The personal thermostat you can wear on your arm
IT could be the perfect answer for anyone who fights over the heating controls in the office – or at home.
Scientists have created an armband which works as a ‘personal thermostat’ to keep those who are always warm or cold at a constant temperature.
Two-inch square patches inside the armbands work for more than eight hours and can lower someone’s skin temperature by up to 10C.
Its inventors say it is a simpler solution than central heating or air conditioning, which have to change the temperature of an entire room to keep a few people comfortable.
The researchers say the patch could also be used by women going through the menopause who suffer from hot flushes. And it could help prevent heat stroke in fire crews or construction workers, as well as
‘Holy grail of heat control’
helping those with health conditions which make them prone to overheating, such as multiple sclerosis.
The armband works using thermoelectric alloys – materials which use electricity to create a temperature difference – sandwiched between heat-conducting stretchy sheets and connected to a small battery pack. Tested on one person at background temperatures ranging from 22C to 36C (72F to 97F), it stayed at a constant 32C (90F).
Professor Renkun Chen, who led the study from the university of California San Diego, said: ‘This type of device can improve your personal thermal comfort whether you are commuting on a hot day or feeling too cold in your office.
‘If wearing this device can make you feel comfortable within a wider temperature range, you won’t need to turn down the thermostat as much in the summer or crank up the heat as much in the winter.’
More than 10 per cent of the energy consumed globally goes on heating and cooling buildings, which makes a personal thermostat the holy grail. But the options for this are few, including clothes with built-in fans or bulky vests with circulating coolant and water packs.
The researchers built their patch